Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 26/8/2010: Vyatta Get IPv6 Certification, a Lot of Droid 2 Coverage



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)





  • Distributions

    • Indamixx Portable Studio Refreshes It's Line of Mobile Music Making Netbooks. Portable Linux Daw, Releases It's Fastest Netbook to Date.
      Trinity Audio Group Inc.'s Indamixx featuring Transmission 4.0, a custom audio OS aimed at the professional recording and DJ market ships pre-installed on faster Intel Atom based Netbook. Linux based product now available at Retailers such as Musician's Friend and Guitar Center.


    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat's extended support option offers breathing room
        Red Hat is taking good care of its customers — and that’s one of the intended benefit of open source software.

        The Linux giant recently announced that it would offer an optional subscription to extend the life cycle support to 10 years for its enterprise Linux.


      • N.C. Technology to honor Szulik
        Szulik, who stepped down as chairman of Raleigh-based Red Hat this month, was the company's CEO for nearly a decade and transformed it into one of the Triangle's largest and most successful technology companies.


      • Vyatta 6.1 Is Certified for IPv6
        Vyatta has released a new version of its software-based router/firewall solution. Vyatta 6.1 is the first update to the 6.x line, but is a solid release by itself. The update brings IPv6 certification and new tools for those using cloud solutions.


      • Fedora

        • Fedora 14 Alpha Has Linux Kernel 2.6.35 and KDE SC 4.5
          Highlights of Fedora 14 Alpha:

          €· Linux kernel 2.6.35; €· KDE SC 4.5; €· GNOME 2.31.2 desktop environment; €· Session and system management; €· Desktop virtualization; €· Faster JPEG compression and decompression; €· Updated and new programming languages; €· Better utilities for developers; €· Sugar 0.90 desktop environment; €· Better netbook experience with MeeGo; €· Fedora EC2 images; €· IPMI server management made simple; €· SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol) support; €· Perl 6 support with Rakudo; €· Powerful data analysis tools.






    • Debian Family



      • Canonical/Ubuntu



        • Flavours and Variants

          • Linux Mint 9 Xfce Final Released
            The Linux Mint team has gotten another flavor of its latest release out the door. Linux Mint 9 Xfce is now deemed ready for a wider audience and has shed the 'release candidate' label.










  • Devices/Embedded

    • Iomega says its removable drives will be USB 3.0
      NAS units have grown in popularity as users' want to stream data to multiple devices. Some units allow users to ditch the standard operating system, usually a customised version of Linux, and install their own fully fledged Linux distribution, meaning a pint sized, energy efficient server is easily had.


    • Phones



      • Android



        • Critics' Choice: Smartphone Review Roundup of Droid 2
          OK, so that was a wee bit sarcastic. Fact is, this has been the year of Android phones, starting with Google's Nexus One. The tide has crested in recent months, with the HTC Incredible, HTC Evo 4G, Motorola Droid X, and now, Motorola's Droid 2 ($200 on Verizon after a $100 mail-in rebate and new two year-contract). It all adds up to a horn of plenty for Android smartphone fans, making it difficult to choose between models, especially since many are offered on Verizon.


        • Huawei to Launch Android 2.2 Smartphone at IFA
          Huawei Technologies plans to launch the U8150, which is based on Android version 2.2, at the Internationale Funkaustellung (IFA) consumer electronics show, the company said via e-mail.


        • How to root the Droid 2


        • Rumor: DROID Incredible Froyo Update Coming September 1st?(Updated)


        • Verizon pushes out first Droid 2 update, doesn't cure signal woes


        • Exclusive: Motorola MB520 Kobe / Diablo for AT&T in the wild
          As we'd heard before it's definitely destined for AT&T bearing Android 2.1 with Blur (complete with Blur logo on back), though our tipster tells us we can expect an update to 2.2 over the air.


        • Top 10 Android Business Apps
          While I'm always a skeptic when it comes to analyst prognostications (you don't sell reports if you don't predict multi-million dollar markets), this forecast is well on its way to being spot-on. In a recent interview for the Guardian in the UK, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said 160,000 Android phones are being activated each day, up from 100,000/day in May and only 60,000/day back in February. That's an impressive growth curve, although actual devices shipped are still well behind the iPhone. To apply a betting metaphor, I'll take the under on Android catching iPhone in 2012.

          As Android grows, so does the importance of the Android Marketplace. Apps are what smartphones are all about, and while Android still trails there too, it's catching up even quicker than with the platform. Finding good apps, though, is still a bit hit and miss -- frustratingly so for a company that built its reputation on search. With scores of new apps flooding the Marketplace each day, I expect to be writing app roundups like this for quite a while.


        • Will AT&T ever sell an open high end Android device?
          Other Android devices you can find on AT&T include the HTC Aria (the best of the bunch), Motorola Backflip (strange design and older OS), Samsung Captivate (nice hardware, but locked down a bit and poor overall performer with AT&T junk), and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (again Android 1.6 loaded at launch). We even see the smartphone/tablet device, the Dell Streak, launching with Android 1.6.


        • Introduction to Android 2 application development






    • Sub-notebooks



      • Netbooks The Next Target For Google Chrome OS
        This is all starting to change however with many Linux based OS’s getting some love and now Google’s Chrome OS is looking to jump in as well. Tuesday, reports leaked of a Acer netbook coming very soon with Google Chrome OS backing it up.




    • Tablets

      • Acer Chrome OS netbook specs leaked in bug reports
        It’s no surprise that Acer is working on a netbook that will run Google’s Chrome OS. So far Acer’s been pretty quiet about the details, though. But Macles spotted a few details by following a rather convoluted paper trail.








Free Software/Open Source



Leftovers

  • Iranian Government Runs Public Warez Server
    The Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology is directly connected to the Iranian Government. Aside from evaluating and advising policy makers on science and technology issues, the largest research outfit in the country also provides a warez server where Photoshop, MS Office and many other applications can be downloaded for free, totally legal thanks to Iran’s lenient copyright policy.


  • Attorneys General Continue Grandstanding Against Craigslist
    This is hardly a surprise, given the well-coordinated media campaign against Craigslist, but despite multiple "settlements" with various state attorneys general, it appears that those AGs keep going back to the headline-generating well of demanding Craigslist "fix" things. You may recall that nearly two years ago, after being hounded by some AGs, Craigslist settled with the AGs, despite clearly being protected by Section 230 of the CDA. However, despite it being "settled," some AGs felt it wasn't enough and six months later there was another settlement. And, of course, it wasn't long before the AGs started complaining again.


  • Science



  • Security/Aggression

    • Fine for Edinburgh data snooping policeman


      Defence agent David Hunter said: "Although there is the statutory defence of accessing the information for police purposes that does not really apply here.

      "His nose got the better of him and he was curious."

      Sheriff Derrick McIntyre asked Mr Hunter if Merron could be described as a "nosy parker" who was "filling in time"?




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife





  • Finance

    • Despite Reform, Banks Have Room for Risky Deals
      When Congress passed a new financial regulation bill last month, it sought to prevent federally insured banks from making speculative bets using their own money. But that will not stop banks from making bets that some critics deem risky, even as the rules go into effect over the next few years.


    • Kotlikoff: U.S. Financial System Fundamentally Corrupt


    • Fiscal Austerity and America’s Future
      There are three main views of the financial crisis and the most recent recession. In the first two views, the debate over the fiscal deficit is quite separate from what happened in the crisis. But in the third view, the financial crisis and likelihood of fiscal austerity are closely linked.


    • As economy slows and Fed voices conflict, markets look to Bernanke for guidance
      With the housing market retreating, unemployment lingering and top officials at the Federal Reserve in open disagreement over what to do, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is under rising pressure to offer solutions in an address Friday that is likely to be his most important since the end of the financial crisis.


    • Fraud Ruling Is Reshaping Federal Cases
      Just hours later, his office filed a motion to dismiss its most prominent criminal case, a seven-year-old corporate-fraud prosecution against two former top executives at Westar Energy, the state’s largest electric utility.

      The reason? The United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in June that narrowed the scope of the statute known as theft of “honest services,” leaving him with little choice but to drop the charges, Mr. Grissom said in a short statement.







  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • WikiLeaks builds a legal shield in Sweden
      Two young Swedes hammer away at computers in a space that is part garage, part college dorm, littered with cables, Coke cans and an empty bottle of ketchup.

      It looks like an unlikely place for the U.S. Pentagon to be worried about.

      But this cramped room in a Stockholm suburb acts as a nerve center for WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website which has published thousands of secret documents on the war in Afghanistan and has promised to post many more.




  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Rights Holders Launch Initiative To Protect Content In Africa
      Foreign content producers and broadcasters hope the soon-to-be-launched Africa Media Rights Watch will help convince the region’s regulators and consumers alike to increase respect for copyright.

      DISCOP, which organises television content markets in emerging regions, opened shop in Africa last year to bring together broadcasters seeking African and international programming with content distributors, DISCOP Africa Executive Manager Cherise Barsell said in a 24 August interview. But with film and TV piracy rampant in Africa, Basic Lead, the organiser of DISCOP Africa, and consultant Balancing Act-Africa decided to see how the problem affects the continent’s audiovisual sector, she said. Basic Lead is headquartered in Paris and Los Angeles.



    • “Writers Groups” presume too much
      Even assuming that every member of each of the collectives actually represented by this “coalition” understand the issues and agree with the letter’s stated position, surely the signatories are aware there are other writer collectives in Canada. Like, say, the Writers Guild of Canada. Further I would hope that they are also aware that there are professional Canadian writers who do not belong to any collective at all. Like me.


    • Copyrights

      • Meeting with BIS about the Draft copyright infringement code
        BIS were able to give us some information about likely dates. Everything is falling behind schedule. The cost consultation will result in a ‘Statutory Instrument’ which will decide what portion of the scheme is paid by ISPs (ie, ends up on consumers’ bills) and whether Appellants will have to pay. We should have a public response by the end of this month. We won’t. This is holding Ofcom’s work in turn.

        Additionally, the fact that TalkTalk and BT remain angry and opposed to the Bill’s implementation, and are contesting it via Judicial Review in the High Court, means that Ofcom cannot properly proceed with their work to get the Code implemented.

        Government timetables are never quite as easy as they might seem, but these very tight deadlines, mandated by an Act that did not get proper scrutiny, are continuing to cause error and uncertainty, and failing to give proper reassurance about the effect on our fundamental rights.


      • Big Win for Copyright Collectives


        Some writers groups have reacted angrily to the education exception, claiming it will cost them millions in revenue and arguing that it amounts to an "expropriation of property." Yet a new decision from the Federal Court of Appeal provides powerful evidence that these fears are exaggerated with the new expanded fair dealing rules still striking a reasonable balance between creators and users.


      • Estimating the Economic Impact of Mass Digitization Projects on Copyright Holders: Evidence from the Google Book Search Litigation
        The debate surrounding the GBS settlement is important to students, writers, researchers, and the general public, as it may decide whether a federal appellate court or even the U.S. Supreme Court allows the best research tool ever designed to survive. If the theory of Microsoft and some publishing trade associations is accepted, the courts may enjoin and destroy GBS, just as Napster was shut down a decade ago.


      • Musopen Wants to Give Classical Music to the Public Domain


        Music lovers take note: the classical music archive Musopen needs your help to liberate some classic symphonies from copyright entanglement. Museopen is looking to solve a difficult problem: while symphonies written by Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky are in the public domain, many modern arrangements and sound recordings of those works are copyrighted. That means that even after purchasing a CD or collection of MP3s of this music, you may not be able to freely exercise all the rights you'd associate with works in the public domain, like sharing the music using a peer-to-peer network or using the music in a film project.


      • BMI Appeals Ruling That Lets Venues Route Around BMI, Claiming It Somehow Harms Musicians


      • ACTA

        • Has the U.S. Caved on Secondary Liability in ACTA?
          Following the ninth round of ACTA negotiations in Lucerne, Switzerland in July, it became apparent (after the updated ACTA leaked) that the U.S. had caved on some of its demands to include DMCA-like anti-circumvention language in ACTA. The ACTA provisions still go further than the WIPO Internet treaties by mandating the inclusion of provisions to address circumvention devices, but the treaty moved much closer to the EU approach and became more consistent with the WIPO Internet treaty flexibilities. This represented a major shift for the U.S. and was clearly a loss from what it hoped to achieve within ACTA.


        • Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Accord Likely To Be Signed In September
          The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is likely to be signed here in September, at a vice-ministerial level meeting of 11 parties, Kyodo News quoted the Trade Ministry as saying.

          The International treaty is designed to create an international framework to halt the distribution of counterfeit brand goods and pirated music and film products.












Clip of the Day



Free Software in Ethics and in Practice University Commonwealth VA 2008



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